Commentary culture to spread in K-pop
Hwang So-yoon, a member of band Se So Neon, released a commentary album for her first solo debut album on May 21. The album contains stories track by track on how she developed her ideas into music with the people who collaborated in this project. / Korea Times file
By Jung Hae-myoung
In Korean popular culture where no one takes music very seriously, some people are making attempts to create discussions about music. The effort started from the indie music scene and is now moving over to K-pop as more artists are beginning to write their own lyrics and participate in producing their albums.
Recently indie artist Hwang So-yoon released a commentary album to her first regular album “So!YoON!” with songs from different genres including pop, hip-hop, and R&B. She made her solo debut on May 21. Hwang is originally a member of Se So Neon which recently embraced two new members ― U-su on drums and Hyunjin on base ―after Fancy Moon and Kangtto left for military service.
A commentary album is one in which musicians talk about their music track by track after releasing their actual music pieces. Usually the artists talk about how they made their music, the seed ideas that inspired them and what instruments and musical techniques they used on any particular track.
In this commentary album, Hwang says she wanted to share the stories of how she made albums with help from a variety of people.
“There was so much to talk about after working on so many different tracks with various artists. I decided to make this commentary album so that I can share how each and every song was produced and born, rather than just keeping it to myself,” Hwang said.
She invited eight different people who took part in making the album. Through these conversations she unravels stories and explains how she tried to convey her character through the music.
“We wanted people to listen to the commentary album like music, so we decided to also release it on a music streaming website rather than online video platforms that are popular these days,” Go Gun-hyuk, the head executive of BG BG Record said.
“This commentary album is a story of each and every individual who took part in the project that took some time, and it could also be as good as the album itself,” he added.
Experts say this is the first attempt to release a commentary album separately in Korea. In other countries, commentary culture is more natural, as there are more platforms to share thoughts and talk about music.
For example, Spotify, one of the largest music streaming services in the world, allows artists to make comments on each track they made on an album, providing a different “sound point” for listeners.
These types of discussions are also familiar on radio shows, where artists and hosts focus on and delve deeper into each song on a certain album, with every detail about how they made it. “Radio X,” a radio station in the United Kingdom that only talks about rock and guitar based music, often invites artists to discuss their work for an hour or two.
In comparison, the Korean music industry provides artists with platforms to sing and dance but nowhere to talk about the music itself. Music show “Yoo Hee-yeol's Sketchbook” on KBS is a rare exception that invites musicians to perform live and talk about the music afterwards. Otherwise, there is no show on broadcast that artists can sit down and talk face to face about their music.
This is closely tied to the current popular music environment in Korea.
“Singers these day sell their album on shopping channels because they have nowhere to stand in broadcasting,” Kim Sang-hwa, a music critic said.
The conversation the musicians can create at most is making short remarks on how they felt while making it as part of promotion for new album on YouTube or V-Live. However, making in-depth comments on their own music is not something they are familiar with.
“The artist might worry whether a commentary album would get as much as attention as a regular music album,” Han Dong-yoon, a pop culture critic explained. “There is a benefit that the artist can produce a (commentary album) without much effort they would put in a regular album, but the musicians hesitate if they might not get as much reaction from the fans and feel despondent.”
However, some K-pop idols are showing a keen interest in writing lyrics, composing songs and producing albums.
“Usually most of the idol singers are passive in the K-pop market. Management companies put profits first, so they seek styles that can easily gain popularity,” Han said.
“Most K-pop groups record the songs they receive from the company made by professionals. They don't actively participate in producing the music, so they have not much to say after they perform. This makes it hard to see serious commentary that purely focuses on music.”
One of the K-pop stars who started the change was Jeong Eun-ji, a former A-pink member, who came back as a solo artist with her album “Hyehwa,” in October 2018. Jeong also released a commentary video clip on YouTube, titled “On Hyehwa.”
In the clip, she explains what the place means to her as she graduated from a girl's school in Hyehwa, Seoul. She also described how the collaboration came about with musician Sunwoo Jung-a and jazz pianist So Soo-bin.
K-pop girl band Red Velvet added extra track “Red Radio” to the track list for the iTunes International version of their album “Summer Magic.” For 10 minutes, the members explain the track sets in English to help their foreign fans understand the music.
Critics say commentary culture has the potential for expansion as more K-pop idols learn to make their own music.
“When the artists create their own work, they tend to have more affection for it. They want the audience to know about how they made it, what they wanted to convey through this music, and the feelings they had while making the music,” Han said.
“It is therefore reasonable to say that more artists making their own music would have an impact on spreading the culture of the commentary album. In terms of marketing, the companies can also increase profits from repackaging the album with commentaries from the artists, targeting the fans,” he added.